Why Hermoine trusts Snape

[Peggy]

No: HPFGUIDX 69403

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "darrin_burnett" 
<bard7696 at a...> wrote:
> But Hermione doesn't even seem to react to Snape any more. Here are 
> some reasons, with my pet one last for maximum suspense. :)
> 
> 1) This is just her way or arguing with Ron. He says the sky is 
blue. 
> She says it's grey just to annoy him.
> 
> 2) She has buried her humiliation in analytical discussion and if 
she 
> gives in to her hatred of Snape by sharing it with the boys, she'll 
> crack like an egg.
> 
> 3) Being the show-stopper at the Yule Ball -- take THAT, dog-faced 
> Pansy! -- made up for it.
> 
> 4)*** My pet theory. Hermione knows the truth.
> 
> This can be accomplished with Redeemed!Snape or Good!But!Not!Nice!
> Snape. Just switch the players around a touch.
> 
Peg:

Darrin, I rather think that you're onto something with #4.  But I do 
not think that Snape or DD told her a thing.  She's a very bright 
young woman, and a good researcher, to boot.  She may very well have 
pieced together enough information to know just exactly what's going 
on with the Potions Master we love to hate.  She worked out Lupin's 
lycanthropy right under our noses, and I think most of us were as 
startled as Harry and Ron when Lupin "came out" in the Shrieking 
Shack.

I repeat, for anyone who hasn't heard this from me before--I do not 
excuse or condone Snape's behavior.  And I assure you, outside of the 
Potterverse, his behavior would have gotten him fired (in the U.S., 
at least).  Tenure or not, valuable staff member or not.  My parents 
were both teachers, and spent time as the president of their local 
teacher's union.  They would have run him out of town on a rail.  
After tarring and feathering him.  (My mother especially.  You think 
Molly Weasley comes down hard on Fred and George?  Try growing up 
with a woman who teaches junior high students; it's like living with 
a drill sargeant.) 

I adhere to the Redeemed!Snape theory.  He's done something or 
another to prove his change of heart.  I doubt that he's ever been 
a "nice guy," although since reading OoP I can understand where some 
of that comes from.  But I believe he's made a choice for good over 
evil, and that he's dedicated to the cause of destroying Voldemort.  
Hermione knows, and though I'm sure she's never forgiven him, she's 
decided not to pursue any issues that relate to him.  Her reasons may 
come out later, and I'm pretty sure it's completely unrelated to any 
of the fanfic I've read lately.

Peg--Who, if she's wrong, would like to be there with Darrin when V 
scoops out Snape's heart with a melon baller.